Winter Masquerade
by Spunky0ne
Summary: Byakuya reluctantly accepts an invitation to attend a winter solstice masquerade...but what happens when he arrives is truly magical! Yaoi, Aizen/Byakuya...This one's no longer a oneshot, but is continuing!...Warning...yaoi, mpreg
1. Masquerade Ball

**Winter Masquerade**

**By Spunky0ne**

**(A tasty little Aizen/Byakuya oneshot. Enjoy!)**

"C'mon, Taichou, this is really going to be some fun! You'll see. Wait until we get inside. You're going to enjoy this."

Byakuya glanced at Renji's lovely, elaborately decorated mask and wondered how the man expected not to be recognized. Even if not for covering his dark tattoos, Renji was extremely tall and his red hair showed, so, the noble thought, he would be painfully obvious.

"I don't know, Abarai," he said shifting uncomfortably and slowing as they approached the old Victorian mansion where the solstice gathering was being held, "This isn't the kind of thing I usually do. The people here will mostly be your age, not mine. And the other taichous won't be there, ne?"

"Who knows?" Renji chuckled, "That's what makes it fun. You never know who will show up and turn things upside down. Thing is, you need to get out and have some fun. And I won our last sparring match, fair and square. You promised you would do this!"

"Well, I haven't backed out," the noble said, smoothing the white feathers on the lovely, intricate mask he wore and studying his suit to make sure it wasn't too obvious, "A promise is a promise. So...what do we do now?"

"We go inside," Renji said, leading him forward, where they were greeted at the door by a young woman in a pretty peacock mask.

"Welcome," she said, her mouth smiling where the mask revealed it.

She handed them each a dark red rose.

"Here are your roses. The ballroom and banquet are straight ahead and there are bedrooms upstairs for if you get..._weary_."

"If we get weary?" Byakuya whispered to the redhead.

Renji smirked.

"Well, it is an all night party and some people get tired...or they find someone they like and want to..."

"You can stop right there," the noble said dryly, "I get the point. I don't know why you thought I would enjoy something like this. I am not as young as you and not interested in what amounts to a fraternity party, Renji."

"Ah, relax, Taichou. Just go in and dance with people and have some good food then. The mansion is really something inside. They go to a lot of work to dress it up for this."

"But if it is such a big party, then why have I not heard of it?"

"Well, it's that way because secrecy adds to the fun. No invitations go out and everyone who comes is welcome."

"That is insane!" mused Byakuya, pausing as they entered the house and he was immediately stunned by the surreal environment.

"It's amazing, ne?" Renji sighed, enjoying the lovely pastel colors of the flowers, walls and furniture, as well as the heavy fog that drifted all around.

"I have to admit, it is beautiful. But Renji..."

"Come on, Taichou," the redhead laughed, taking his hand and leading him forward.

They worked their way through crowds of masked revelers, leaving Byakuya wondering just how many people were there and how many he knew. He tried to guess who some of the beautifully disguised people were, but the haze around them helped to obscure what he might have been able to pick out.

"Renji?"

He realized suddenly that the redhead had left his side and had disappeared into the crowd.

_I should kill him for this. What do I do now?_

He made his way to the banquet area and found an array of delicious foods that had been fastidiously prepared.

_So, a wealthy clan must have prepared all of this. I wonder which one..._

He didn't plan to eat much, but found he was extremely hungry after a long day at work, so he filled a plate and found a cozy place in a corner, where he could watch the people around him. He began to pick out things about them that seemed familiar, but was stymied again from actually recognizing anyone.

"Do you mind if I join you?" asked a deep, tranquil male voice.

It sounded familiar, but he couldn't seem to place it. Byakuya blinked in confusion. He wasn't one to sit and chat with a stranger he knew nothing about, but between the low, compelling voice, the man's attractive mingled black and gold demon costume, and the entrancing scent about him, he found himself unable to refuse.

"Of course," he said, keeping his voice soft, so as not to give his identity away.

He was surprised all over again as the man extended a hand and offered him a dark red rose.

"Wh-what is this?" the noble asked.

"Did you not know?" the man asked, smiling at him, "The rose you were given at the door is for offering to someone you would like to pair with for the evening. If you accept a rose, you cut off the stem and pin it to the front of your costume so that others know you are 'taken.' It means that for the duration of the party, we are dates."

"Well, not to be rude, but what makes you think I want to be 'taken' by you? I don't even know you."

"Perhaps not. But, you are obviously not one who likes a lot of _that kind_ of attention, ne? I am much the same. This will keep others from offering you their roses right and left all night."

"And what makes you think that anyone here would do that?" Byakuya asked, shaking his head.

"You are the loveliest person here," the man stated matter-of-factly, "Of course you will be surrounded all night by people wanting to be your date for the solstice."

Byakuya sighed, vowing even greater retribution on his absent fukutaichou.

"What a bother..."

"Yes, I know. I see you must have been coaxed into coming here by a friend. I love the decor and the food is wonderful, but that element is rather annoying, ne?"

"Yes."

"So, we can protect each other from having too many suitors?"

Byakuya considered the offer for a moment.

"You do not expect I will...adjourn to the upstairs with you?"

The other man smiled.

"If you do not wish it, then we will not go there. We can simply enjoy the party, the food and dancing. Do you like to dance?"

"Yes," Byakuya replied, accepting the man's rose and offering his own.

He pinned the rose to his costume and watched as the other man did the same. The man moved his chair closer to Byakuya's so that they could observe the other revelers together.

"So," the man said casually, "how did you come to be here tonight?"

My fu...erm..._friend_ asked me to go," Byakuya explained, "I would not have accepted, except he won our sparring match and I had agreed to go if he did."

"Ah."

"And yourself?"

"I am searching for someone."

Byakuya frowned.

"You are _searching_ for someone? At a masquerade? Why would you do that?"

The man smiled and his brown eyes twinkled.

"People hide behind masks far more intricate than these," he explained, "In fact, it is when they wear these costumes that they relax and reveal their true selves."

Byakuya studied the other people in the banquet room and the ones dancing in the next room. And amazingly, as he watched them more closely, they did begin to reveal themselves.

"Each person who comes here is looking for something. But sometimes they cannot see it until the mask on the other person is covered and the true nature of them is allowed to emerge."

Byakuya considered the connotations of that.

"So, you are saying that the costumes we wear cause us to feel comfortable being who we are inside?"

"Yes. Some people don't spend as much time hiding as others, so the change is not as great. But the one I am seeking is very different underneath than he is on the surface."

"But you have already given me your rose and I have given you mine..."

"Yes."

"Does that mean that you think that I could be this person you are looking for?" the noble asked.

"Perhaps," the other man answered, taking his hand, "Come now, would you like to dance?"

Byakuya had always loved to dance. He had been required to learn ballroom dance because he was heir, but he really hadn't minded. There was something freeing about placing himself in another person's arms and floating about so lightly on his feet. He accepted his date's hand wordlessly, following flawlessly as he was swept onto the dance floor to join the others swaying and stepping gracefully around the room.

"You dance beautifully," the other man observed, pulling him closer, "But do not feel you have to be confined."

The music changed to a tune that was slower and blended with the cloudy feel of the room to make the scene feel almost magical. Anchored in his mysterious date's arms, Byakuya quickly forgot the concerns he had felt before and began to truly enjoy the party.

_There are no expectations for me to behave a certain way. I am free to move as I see fit...to act as I feel. This is...heavenly._

And his partner was tall and charming. He was warm and accepting, even affectionate in the way he held the noble as they danced. The expressions around his eyes and mouth where the mask revealed him were as enchanting as the rest of him. And he seemed a gentleman...not putting the slightest pressure on him to go upstairs to engage in physical pleasures.

_Although..._

Byakuya stopped dancing, his eyes widening as he felt a twinge of lust for the man pass through him.

_But I don't even know who he is! How could I be wanting him that way? That is scandalous._

"Are you all right?" his date asked.

"I am...fine, but...but I need to go."

He started to pull free of the man, but was paused by a staying hand on his.

"Please do not go," the man said calmly, "After all, it isn't until midnight that our roses will reveal who we are and we can see who we have chosen."

"I think this was a mistake," Byakuya said, pulling free again and backing away.

The man disappeared suddenly, then his arm wrapped gently around the surprised noble's waist from behind and his breath tickled Byakuya's blushing ear as he spoke.

"Are you afraid?"

"Why would you ask me that?"

"Because you are trembling. Something has made you afraid."

"I simply realized that I was becoming too relaxed and perhaps had too much sake at dinner. I must go now."

He removed the rose from his costume and offered it back.

"Oh, it is too late to change partners now," the man said, looking disappointed, "And this would mean I had no partner for the midnight reveal."

"But I truly cannot stay!" Byakuya insisted.

"Why is that?"

"I...!"

The man studied Byakuya for several long moments, then smiled in understanding.

"I see," he said solemnly, "You are not worried about what might happen here. You are afraid of what it would mean when you wake up tomorrow."

Byakuya stared back at him wordlessly.

"Just dance with me then. There is no scandal in that, ne?"

Byakuya found himself being swept off his feet again. He meant to object but couldn't as he was taken in by the lovely music and sweetly possessed by the man holding him. But every step, every time he caught a breath of the man's scent, every time he smiled. with each proper, gentle touch, the noble found himself longing more and more poignantly that it didn't have to be for only one night, that he could meet someone like this while unmasked and escape his loneliness forever.

His feet stopped again, and he looked up into the other man's curious eyes.

"You are lonely too," he said softly.

"You see that now?" his date answered, slipping a hand under his chin.

"Yes."

"We cannot escape that loneliness in the light of day. The masks that the people around us wear make us uneasy about trusting. We are weary of searching for someone to ease our loneliness and we came tonight to find respite from that."

"Yes," Byakuya agreed, his heart pounding fiercely in his chest.

"So...you will be with me tonight?"

"And leave before midnight. We will not look on each other unmasked, but will see each others' names revealed by the opened rose," the noble offered.

He was met with a beautifully wicked smile.

"Very well," his date said, extending a welcoming hand.

Byakuya accepted the man's hand and followed him up the fog enshrouded stairs, where they accepted a key from a masked woman and entered the room she indicated. They passed through the door and closed it behind them, then turned to face each other in the darkness.

One of the man's warm hands curved around Byakuya's cheek that blushed beneath his mask, and as they met for their first kiss, the noble felt the ice that had been wrapped around his heart since his wife's death begin to melt.

_Hisana was a shy, gentle person. She accepted my touches but she hardly dared touch me. And I couldn't ask her for what I wanted..._

But the man in front of him needed no direction. His mouth met Byakuya's roughly and his hands roamed freely over the noble's body as they shared a barrage of hungry, wet kisses. The man didn't just kiss, he devoured, and his hands didn't simply explore, they possessed him. Byakuya closed his eyes and sank deeply into those hard, passionate kisses, wondering if he would ever feel such kisses again.

The man's lips left his and attacked his throat, plundering the fine, sweet flesh and tasting their way along a fine, sculpted collarbone. Byakuya didn't quite know when they had climbed onto the bed, or when their hands had begun to tear their clothes away. Within moments, they knelt, facing each other, wearing only their intricate masks, and wanton smiles filled with unsated lust.

Byakuya's head bowed and he sought the other man's throat, licking and kissing his way downward and brushing his lips teasingly against a dusky, erect nipple. He smiled at the growl the other man emitted, as his fingers curled into Byakuya's silken hair and his exerted gentle pressure to urge him on. The man laid back, leaving himself fully exposed as the noble kissed his way down over muscular breast, along each rib, then over the soft belly. He paused, looking down at the man's nether region and witnessing the strong reaction his ministrations had caused.

_I don't know if I can..._

The other man's fingers moved in his hair, coaxing him. Byakuya breathed in the warm, masculine scent of him and felt his worries disappear. He placed his hands on the man's parted thighs and lowered himself between them, keeping his eyes fixed on his date's face to watch his expressions as he was pleasured. And it wasn't just the expressions he made as Byakuya's mouth treasured his sensitive areas, it was the lovely, erotic sounds he made.

_Hisana was nearly silent, and she hardly dared to meet my eyes when I was with her..._

But this man met his eyes readily and reached out to caress his face. He moaned and thrashed as his pleasure mounted, then finally surged upward and turned the tables on the noble.

Byakuya fell back, his hair splaying out around his head and his body unresisting. He sighed as though in relief as the other man's hands and mouth roamed everywhere, touching him in ways he had always longed to be touched, and pleasuring him shamelessly. He blushed at the sounds he was making now, and he shivered slightly at how the other man drank the sounds in, and the look in his eyes grew darker and more wanton. There wasn't an inch of his skin that escaped his date's notice, and by the time he raised himself and began to prepare Byakuya for their joining, the noble was blushing all over.

"Arigatou," he said, offering the other man a very soft kiss of gratitude and receiving a look of deep affection in return, "I have never been made love to like this."

"That is a shame," the brown-eyed man said warmly, "This lovely body should shake with pleasure every night. These arms should never be empty. And you should never be hollow inside, but should always be filled as you will be tonight!"

Byakuya gave a hard cry of surrender as the man's hips moved and their bodies merged forcefully. And all he could be aware of after that was how happy, warm and full he felt while one with that other person. Their bodies writhed heedlessly together and their moans and gasps of contentment filled the room.

Byakuya looked deeply into the other man's eyes, only gratitude and affection showing as he surrendered to heavy shudders of pleasure and his insides were scorched with the other man's passionate release.

He laid quietly after, wondering if that once would be the only time, then having that worry swept away as the man on top of him came awake once more and they began to kiss again.

The hours disappeared into endless, furious joinings, their sweat dampened bodies dancing ceaselessly against each other, then quaking as they climaxed. Byakuya was nearly exhausted as midnight approached, but he remembered their agreement, and as the minutes counted down, he slipped out of the other man's arms and slowly dressed.

He fled then, running through the throng of dancers and out the front door and not stopping until he reached the sixth division office.

_I cannot go home and have my attendant become aware of how I spent the evening. Torio is trustworthy, but I cannot bear to have anyone know what I've done. No. I must let this go. One time, for one night, I knew pleasure like I have not known and will never know again. I was loved passionately and loved someone else with equal abandon. And anyway, he didn't want himself to be revealed in public either. So..._

He considered showering, but with his heart aching slightly, decided instead to spend the last hours of the night still smelling that other man's scent and feeling the dampness between his thighs to remind him that it was all real.

He was so tired, in the end, that he fell asleep and was blissfully unaware when the rose he had taken from his costume and left on his nightstand opened. When his eyes opened again, he turned his head and felt shock flood his so recently sated body.

"Aizen Sousuke?" he whispered, blinking in shock at the thought of the dangerous rogue taichou whom everyone had thought was in Hueco Mundo, "I suppose Renji was right about not knowing who might attend," he mused softly.

He left his bed and showered slowly, feeling again those possessive hands the way they had felt while exploring his body, and finding himself torn.

_I wonder who he was really searching for..._

He knew better than to admit to anyone what had happened. Instead, he resolved to say nothing to Renji when he went out to the office to start his day. When he walked into the office, the redhead was already hard at work.

"Good morning, Taichou," he greeted the noble, "I didn't know you stayed here after work last night."

"I was weary after the party and this was closer," Byakuya said, taking his seat and wincing slightly at the residual pain in his nether region.

Renji frowned and looked up at him.

"Party?" Renji repeated, "You went to a party, Taichou?"

"You don't remember?" Byakuya asked, frowning.

"Are you feeling all right, Taichou?" the redhead mused.

"I am fine," the noble said shortly.

He turned back into the hallway and returned to his room, where he searched the nightstand for the rose, but found that it was gone.

"What in kami's name? Did I dream it all?" he whispered.

He slipped out of the building and followed the path he had taken with Renji before, only to find that it led to an empty lot.

"What?"

He sighed in frustration and turned away, saddened that the beauty he had felt had been all in his imagination. He walked slowly away, unaware of the brown eyes that watched from the illusion shrouded mansion.

"Goodbye, Byakuya," Aizen said affectionately, "I will see you next year..."


	2. Blossoming

**Chapter 2: Blossoming**

**(Augh! The west coast is too damned hot, so I am continuing this in hopes of some rain! Actually, I'm continuing this because of Red Cr0w's enthusiastic request for more! Okay, now there's more...and more on the way!)**

Byakuya sat quietly at his desk, trying to ignore the warning ache in his belly and the feeling of nausea that had been nagging at him all morning. He paused and rubbed his hands over his face, blinking in surprise at finding the skin slightly damp and feeling flushed. He glanced over at Renji's desk, wondering at the redhead's lateness, even though Renji's lateness was actually somewhat the norm. He thought briefly about getting up to make his own tea, but when he tried to stand, his head spun oddly and the room went dark around him. He heard a sudden, muffled thump and expected Renji must have arrived, but strangely, he couldn't see or make his body move. He lost awareness for a time, sinking down into comforting numbness, then opened his eyes to find himself wandering in what appeared to be the colorless, dark sands of Hueco Mundo.

_A large hollow blundered across his path, pausing to sniff the air, but then continuing blithely on, as though it hadn't sensed him._

_"Strange," he whispered, moving forward in the direction of a distant light that he hoped was the shinigami base._

_Another hollow passed him by without sensing him, then another. And, at some point it occurred to the drowsy noble that he must be dreaming._

_"How else could this be happening?" he reasoned to himself, "If I was awake, I would remember leaving the Seireitei, and I would hardly be alone. I must be asleep, then. But why would I come here?"_

_He continued forward, watching as the light in front of him grew, and gradually, buildings rose up out of the blackness._

_"Las Noches," he breathed, staring, "But...?"_

_He felt dark eyes watching him and looked up to see a tall, slender man looking out one of the windows and gazing directly down at him._

_"Aizen Sousuke," Byakuya whispered, feeling as though the air had been sucked out of his lungs._

_He stopped at the fortress gates and was unsurprised when they opened for him. He moved past the hollow guards without them even turning their heads or rotating their dead eyes in his direction. The fortress doors opened from within, although no one came out to greet him. He walked inside, and found himself standing on black marble flooring at the bottom of a huge staircase. A man stood at the top, looking down at him. Without speaking, the man extended a hand, revealing a black rose._

_His breath lodged in his chest and his heart pounding, Byakuya climbed the stairs. Within a few steps, he noticed that a black rose had appeared in his hand as well. He reached the top of the stairs and gently accepted the masked gentleman's rose, while offering his own in return. The man accepted his rose, smiling as he breathed in the sweet scent, then breaking off much of the stem and tucking the bud into his lapel. Byakuya set the rose he had accepted in place, then took the man's offered hand and followed him into a long hallway. They walked halfway down, stopping before a double set of ornate wooden doors, where the other man pushed them open and gestured for the noble to enter. Still, neither man spoke, but the tall man's arms wrapped around Byakuya, and the two began to dance to a lovely waltz. _

_Byakuya closed his eyes, breathing in the other man's scent and remembering their night together. He nearly jumped out of his skin when the man's voice sounded in his ear._

_"I have missed you."_

_"Have you?" Byakuya asked softly_

_"You look confused."_

_"I am," the noble confessed, "You are my enemy, yet we are meeting again like this."_

_"Why do you think I am your enemy?" the man asked, moving him into a graceful turn._

_"You hurt people I care about. Your henchman nearly killed me. How can you say we are not enemies, Aizen Sousuke?"_

_"We are not hurting each other now," the leader of the hollows pointed out solemnly._

_"No, but this is a dream...or...is it an illusion?"_

_"If it is, then it is not of my making," Aizen said, releasing him into another turn, then recapturing him, "I do not know how this is happening. I suppose it is some kind of magic."_

_"Or just my mind playing tricks on me," Byakuya sighed, his heart aching fiercely and threatening to burst out of his chest as the music quickened and the nature of their dancing became more primal. Aizen's arms pulled him in closer, and their bodies pressed heatedly together. Byakuya felt a fever flash on his skin and his legs weakened ominously._

_"Are you all right?" Aizen asked, capturing him as he started to fall._

_"I don't know," Byakuya sighed, a strange buzzing in his head._

_He thought he could hear the distant sound of another voice calling his name, but he couldn't take his eyes off of the man holding him. Aizen lifted him off of his feet and carried him out of the ballroom, bending his head to bring his lips to Byakuya's to revive him with a scintillating kiss._

_He carried the spellbound noble into a bedroom decorated in warm, earthen tones, and laid him in a comfortable bed, loosening his clothes to allow him to breathe more freely._

_"Is that better?" Aizen asked, looking down into the noble's confused eyes._

_Byakuya blinked in confusion as an image of Renji's worried face replaced Aizen's for a moment. He even heard Renji's voice._

_"C'mon Taichou, you're starting to scare me! Please wake up!"_

_"Renji?" the noble managed drowsily._

_Renji's mouth moved and garbled words sounded, but then the redhead's image faded and Byakuya found himself looking up at Aizen Sousuke's curious face._

_"Are you sure you're all right. You lost consciousness."_

_"I am confused," Byakuya admitted, "I thought this was a dream, but even Renji didn't seem real. What can be happening?"_

_"I don't know," Aizen answered, smiling and seeking Byakuya's parted lips again. His mouth fastened on Byakuya's and the noble's eyes closed tightly. A hot tongue thrust in between his lips, making them burn as Aizen's hungry mouth began to devour him. And unable to resist, wanting every bit as much to be devoured by that other man, Byakuya moaned heatedly, thrusting his hips upward to meet Aizen's as they pressed down harder._

_"Sousuke!" he gasped, his mind spinning so hard that Aizen began to disappear again. He held on tightly, reeling as that forceful mouth bit down on his blushing throat, the slick tongue blazing along his flesh and making him moan louder._

_"Sousuke!" he cried again, holding on tightly as the room seemed to tilt and his eyes dimmed for a long moment._

_The other man's lips and teeth and tongue continued to scorch along his skin...down a fine collarbone, over one pale breast and slaking along another. Byakuya's hips rose off the bed again and his mouth opened into a feral exclamation of pleasure as that seeking orifice moved downward, and warm hands spread his legs open wide. Aizen descended on his nether region, swiftly leaving the swooning noble nearly delirious and no longer caring if it was only a dream._

_"Ah, you look happy now," Aizen breathed scathingly, treasuring his sensitive areas painfully slowly, then returning to his mouth for a plundering kiss, "May I make you even happier, Byakuya?"_

_His nearly incoherent affirmation left him blushing even more ferociously as probing fingers swiftly prepared him, then Aizen's body came down onto his again. That hard, unyielding mouth took his firmly, and Byakuya felt the dizzying impact as their writhing forms joined forcefully and became one. His fingers clenched at the bedding until it tore and his cries of delight rang throughout the bedroom and down the long hallways. More times than he could count, that strong, muscular body atop his moved, creating lovely friction and burning at his very core, leaving him nearly in tears as he quivered and shook in anticipation, then screaming senselessly as Aizen's body shuddered and that delicious heat filled him._

_He found himself unable to move, just lying still on his back and looking up into those dangerous and beautiful ark brown eyes. Aizen's lips smiled and whispered final exclamations of affection as everything went dim again, and the noble felt as though he might be falling again._

"Taichou?" called a worried voice.

Byakuya sucked in a surprised breath, then opened his eyes and found that he was not in Hueco Mundo, but in the fourth division. A bleary-eyed and slouching Abarai Renji sat at his side, holding his limp hand and watching him closely.

"Renji?" he said softly.

"Yeah."

"What happened?"

"When I came to work, I found you passed out on the floor. I was so scared, Taichou. I didn't know what was wrong with you. You had a little bit of fever, but they couldn't figure out why you passed out. Do you feel better now?"

"Yes," the noble said, sitting up slowly and taking in his environment, "I feel much better now. I likely just overworked myself."

"That sounds like something you'd do," Renji chuckled affectionately, "Tetsuya and I were here all night with you."

"D-did you say _all night_?" the noble asked warily.

"Why?" Renji laughed softly, "You worried you gave away some deep, dark secret?"

"I..."

"Well, you didn't. You did say a few things, but nothing we could really understand."

Byakuya felt a throb of relief as the door to his hospital room opened and his cousin entered, carrying three cups of hot green tea.

"Tetsuya," Byakuya welcomed him, nodding his gratitude as he accepted one of the cups and Tetsuya handed a second to Renji, then took a sip from the last cup.

"I am glad to see you are awake," Tetsuya said in a tired, but relieved tone.

"It wasn't necessary for the two of you to spend all night losing sleep, watching me lie here, unconscious."

"I am sorry, Byakuya-sama," Tetsuya replied, lowering his eyes, "I was worried about you, as was Renji-san."

Byakuya blinked, suddenly noticing the slight flush on his cousin's cheeks, then the fact that he and Renji were holding hands.

"We couldn't make ourselves leave."

"Well, I am fine now. You don't need to feel as though you have to stay. I will likely be discharged soon."

"Arashi is waiting outside," Tetsuya answered, glancing out the window, "As soon as Unohana taichou clears you to leave, we will escort you home."

"You have been up all night," Byakuya objected, "You don't need to..."

"It is nothing," Tetsuya assured him, "Please, Byakuya-sama, we would like to stay and accompany you home."

"Ah, I see there's no convincing you otherwise," the clan leader said, shaking his head briefly, then quickly regretting it as several strong twinges of pain passed through it.

"Oh, Kuchiki taichou," said Unohana taichou's sweet voice from the doorway as she entered the room, "it is good to see you awake and looking like you feel better."

"I feel fine now, thank you. I understand that you found nothing wrong?"

"Well, nothing terribly worrisome, although, oddly, you did, for some reason, have elevated levels of a feminine hormone in your blood."

"I did?"

"Yes," affirmed the healer, "I ran the tests a second time, in case there had been contamination of the sample, but I received the same result. If you were female, I would say that you might take a pregnancy test, but as you are not, I feel there is no need to be aggressive about treating the condition. Your body will likely balance itself on its own."

"I see," Byakuya said, frowning, "Well, in that case, may I assume that I can be cleared to return home?"

"Of course," said the healer, "I would like you to take a few days off of work and rest so that you can be sure that you are fully restored before returning to duty."

"I can take care of things at the division," Renji offered, "and I'll bring over anything that needs your personal attention."

"I appreciate that," Byakuya said gratefully, "I do think some more rest would be beneficial. I still feel rather drowsy and my stomach feels queasy."

"That could be because of the hormone imbalance," said Unohana, "But the condition does not seem serious, and it doesn't appear to be getting any worse. As I said, I think it will resolve itself on its own."

"I am sure it will," Byakuya agreed, sliding out of bed and moving towards the closet, where his clothing had been neatly hung.

He dressed slowly, with Tetsuya assisting quietly, while Renji gazed sleepily out the window and yawned several times. Byakuya looked from his cousin's slightly bowed head to Renji's eyes that drifted over to observe them, and he smiled at Tetsuya.

"You seem to be getting on well with my fukutaichou," he commented in an approving tone, "You seem fond of each other."

"Y-yes, Byakuya-sama," Tetsuya confessed softly, "We are. We...have a common interest in seeing to your well-being. And we do feel very comfortable with each other."

"I am glad," the clan leader replied, glancing back at the now dozing redhead, "He is a good man...a fierce, but loving soul. He is the kind of person who will treat my cousin well and show him the proper respect."

"Byakuya-sama!"

"You have my blessing to see him, Tetsuya."

Tetsuya swallowed hard, blushing furiously.

"Thank you, watashi no itoko," he said, smiling helplessly, "That makes me very happy."

"I enjoy seeing you happy," Byakuya said, embracing the younger noble briefly.

"What's going on over there?" Renji asked, stifling a huge yawn, "You two plotting something?"

"I was giving my cousin permission to see you romantically, if he wishes," Byakuya said blithely, smirking at the redhead nearly falling off his chair at the words.

"Oh...ah, really? R-right, I probably should have asked your permission before kissing him, ne? But he's just so damned cute! I couldn't help it."

"Renji-san!" Tetsuya exclaimed, lowering his eyes in embarrassment.

"Well, you are damned cute!" the redhead insisted.

"I wouldn't know," Tetsuya managed in a flustered tone, "but I do confess that I find you attractive, Renji-san."

"And you said that I was a good kisser," Renji reminded him, making Byakuya arch a fine eyebrow at them as Tetsuya blushed harder and found himself momentarily speechless.

"I am so pleased that my minor fainting spell has ended in such a lovely exchange," Byakuya noted, turning towards the door, "Renji, I would be pleased to have you join u for dinner."

"Aw, Taichou, that's really nice, but I'm gonna fall asleep in no time flat and probably sleep through dinnertime."

"Then, come and we shall make up a guest room for you at the manor."

Renji smiled at Tetsuya's pleased reaction and nodded.

"Sure, thanks Taichou. I'll be glad to join you, even if I do sleep through dinner!"

"Very well, let us be off then."

The three left the hospital and Tetsuya helped his cousin onto Arashi's back before mounting, himself. They proceeded quickly to the manor, where they joined Rukia for a large meal, before adjourning to their rooms.

Byakuya emerged some time later and made his way out into the gardens, smiling to himself as he sensed the riled reiatsu leaking out of Tetsuya's bedroom.

"I am glad he makes you happy," he whispered, looking down at his reflection in the koi pond and imagining Aizen standing next to him with an arm wrapped around him, "Everyone deserves to find happiness," he sighed, "_Everyone_..."


End file.
